Believe it or not the man on the right in the picture is Henry.
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   It was amazing that less than twenty minutes after The Night's Jewel had effortlessly taken down the HMS Blue Jay, Archer and I were talking like nothing had happened.

   "I can't get burned," Archer said. "It has to do with being able to control fire. Rook always gets mad at me when I catch things for her." He smiled up at where Rook was talking to Jacob. "I'm surprised we even convinced her to do that."

   "Is she usually more stubborn?" I asked, watching Rook give Jacob the anchor. "She seemed easy enough to convince."

   "That's only because I've been working at her for a while. She usually listens to things better when I tell them to her. She's naturally suspicious of almost everyone else except for Cooper and, it seems, Jacob."

   "Jacob seems to enjoy her company."

   Archer raised an eyebrow at me and gave me an amused smirk. "He does doesn't he?"

   "JACOB!" someone shouted just before a loud splash.

   Archer sighed. "Someone take the wheel please!" he shouted across the deck.

   One of the crew ran up and took the wheel from Archer. We both walked to the railing.

   "You need help down there Blackbird?" Archer called down to Rook, who must have been the one who shouted and made the splash.

   Rook scowled. "Yes. You can shove him into the water for me." She pushed her hood down and started climbing up the side of the ship. "He shoved me out of the crows nest." She dropped over the railing and shook her head vigorously, spraying water in all directions. She staggered a couple of steps before she caught her balance.

   "Cheers Rook!" Jacob shouted down from the crows nest.

   Rook shot a glare up at him. There was a splash as a large amount of water dropped from Rook's robes. She was suddenly dry. "I'm going to get you for that one Jacob! I promise!"

   "What did you tell him that made him push you off?" Archer asked, taking over the wheel once more. "It can't have been unprovoked."

   Rook gave him a reproachful look. "I was telling him little words of wisdom. He said he wanted to hear them!"

   "Hmmm... and what were those words of wisdom that you didn't come up with?"

   Rook put an arm around Archer's shoulders. "Why do you care?"

   Archer smirked at her. "Because I'm curious to why you got pushed off of a dangerously high place."

   "It's not that high!" Rook objected.

   "Maybe not to you," I said. "But that's easily a hundred feet to the rest of us."

   Rook pulled away from Archer and made a face at me. "Fine. If you really want to know." She handed me a piece of paper. "There you go." She gave Archer one last playful punch and ran toward the mast Jacob was sitting on top of.

   "That must be what she said to him," Archer said. "Either that, or it's something Arno gave her. He's always giving her random scraps of paper with old quotes on them."

   I unfolded the paper and looked at it. "It looks like an old quote to me," I said. "It says, 'Where other men blindly follow the truth, remember.Nothing is true.Where other men are bound by morality and law, remember.Everything is permitted.We work in the dark to serve the light. We are Assassins. Nothing is true and everything is permitted.' I think that's something I've heard before."

   Archer hummed quietly, looking to be deep in thought. "It does sound familiar. I'll have to ask Rook when I remember. Probably next week."

   I smiled. "It sounds like the way Jacob tells Evie about things. Only when he remembers. Even if its important he comes up with some excuse to forget."

   Archer smiled, eyes locked on the horizon. "Shay used to do that. He would always use the excuse 'I was distracted'. He never told me what he was distracted by, just that he'd been distracted." Archer fell silent. His body language clearly saying he was done talking.

   I left him to his thoughts and wandered the deck, helping where I could, but mostly just watching. Once or twice I saw Jacob and Rook chasing each other, likely because of some sort of prank. Most of the crew ignored me when I wasn't helping them out.

   Archer made us pause twice for meals. After the second break for dinner, the sun was starting to drop toward the horizon. It painted the sky and sea with bright oranges, yellows, and purples.

   "No red. A good sign," a familiar voice said, making me jump. Moleck leaned against the railing. "I shouldn't be awake yet, but I couldn't sleep any longer. It also saved me from Arno tipping my bed over again."

   I smiled. "That would be a good thing to avoid."

   "You have absolutely no idea."

   "You're right. I don't."

   We stood in silence for a while longer. Watching the sun get closer and closer to the horizon. The colors got darker and the sky behind us turned black.

   Moleck sighed and pushed off the railing. "I should go take over for Archer. He'll want some sleep tonight." He slapped my shoulder as he left. "You should get some rest too. Won't want you passing out from exhaustion tomorrow."

   I smiled and turned toward the trapdoor to below decks. "I'll do that. Don't wake me up tomorrow."

   "Alright! I'll have Archer do it!"

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I finally got another chapter up! I think it turned out quite well. The song sent shivers up my spine.

Q&A

No questions but I'm happy to answer any that you have for any of the characters and/or me.

May the wind blow strong in your sails and fortune favor your blade!